Swaging machine



P 1964 A. H. oouls'f ETAL 3,149,509

SWAGING MACHINE INVENTORS ALBERT H. OQUEST FRA SCHIR R GEORGE ERNHA %,WMW

AT TOR/V575 United States Patent 3,149,509 SWAGHIG MACHINE Albert H. Oqnist, Farmington, Frank Schirmer, Newington, and George K. Bernhardt, West Hartford, Conn., assignors to The Penn Manufacturing Company, Newington, Conn, a corporation of Connecticut Filed Apr. 26, 1961, Ser. No. 105,658 1 Claim. (Cl. 7821) This invention relates to a new and improved swaging machine of the type in which metal is formed by a succession of repeated blows from pairs of opposed dies.

It is a principal object of this invention to provide a swaging machine that is adaptable for forming a workpiece into any one of numerous shapes, including those having rectangular and circular cross sections, without creating metal flashing or surface voids thereon.

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved swaging machine which is useful for forming stock of either circular or noncircular cross section into a product of either circular or noncircular cross section, with suflicient dimensional accuracy, notwithstanding substantial variations in the stock size, to avoid subsequent machining or forming operations on the swaged product.

It is another object of this invention to provide an improved swaging machine that has a simple arrangement of parts, is of sturdy and durable construction and which is dependable and economical in operation.

Other objects will be in part obvious and in part pointed out more in detail hereinafter.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combination of elements and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in the construction hereafter set forth and the scope of the application which will be indicated in the appended claim.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary longitudinal elevation crosssectional view of an embodiment of the swaging machine of this invention;

FIG. 2 is an end elevation view with portions of the drive assembly removed and with parts broken away, taken substantially along the line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 includes transverse cross-sectional views of a piece of round bar stock and of the same stock after it has been formed by swaging machines of the conventional type; and

FIG. 4 includes transverse cross-sectional views of a piece of round bar stock and of the same bar stock as it is being formed in the swaging machine of the present invention.

Referring to the drawings, an embodiment of the swaging machine of this invention is shown to include a stationary housing having a metal workpiece receiving central opening 12 and a frame 14 which rigidly supports the housing 10. A die support 16 having a central workpiece receiving or feed opening 18 is fixed to the housing 10 as by screws 26 and has axially extending substantially triangularly shaped projections 22 (FIG. 2) that are angularly located to define radial slots having a 90 angular spacing for mounting two pairs of diametrically opposed die assemblies 24. The die assemblies 24 are slideably supported between the projections 22 by side bearing shoes 26 fixed to the projections as by threaded fasteners 27 and by a back or thrust-bearing shoe 28 received within the radial slots and having a central opening 29. For retaining the die assemblies 24 within the radial slots formed by the projections 22, an annular die cover or tlu'ust ring 30 having a workpiece receiving opening 32 is fixed to the outer face of the projections 22 as by means of the screws 34.

The die assemblies 24 have dies 36 with hardened die faces 38 that are adapted to engage and thereby form a time Patented Sept. 22, 1964 metal workpiece inserted within the feed opening between the dies. Although a flattened die face is shown, it should be realized that other die face contours could be used, for example, a concave or convex contour, or a contour having ridges or depressions. Additionally, although all die face contours are shown to be substantially identical, i.e., flat surfaces, they could be provided with varying contours on either the adjacent dies or on the opposed dies or both. The dies 36 are moved inwardly by die hammers 4'3, and a replaceable shim 42 of a selected thickness is interposed between the die hammer and die to adjust for die and hammer wear or to reposition the dies to change the size of the formed workpiece.

An actuator or roller assembly, generally designated by the numeral 50, has a plurality of circumferentially spaced hardened steel cylindrical rollers 52 that are adapted to have rolling engagement on a hardened dis continuous circumferential surface having a portion 54 on the die support 16 and a portion 56 on an annular roller support ring 58 that is rigidly secured to the extensions 22 by the screws 60 (FIG. 2). The rollers 52 are maintained in equally spaced circumferential relationship by spacer shoes 62 that are interposed between adjacent rollers 52 and which are secured to form an integral roller cage assembly with the end rings 64 by alternately facing screws 66 extending between the rings 64 and through the spacer shoes 62. A roller assembly driver 70 (FIG. 1) having a roller outer race 72 retained therein by the rings 74 and screws 76, is rotated by a motor (not shown) to revolve the rollers 52 about the stationary die support 16 and the support ring 58 for bringing about periodic engagement between the hardened rollers 52 and a curved hardened outer surface 78 on the die hammers 40.

Lubricant is supplied to the roller assembly 50 by the lubricant passage 80 in the stationary die support 16. The lubricant is sealed within the roller assembly by the annular caps 86 that are shown welded to the outer race retainer rings 74, and by the annular seals 88 positioned between the caps 86 and the supports 16, 58.

The roller assembly shown has ten equally spaced rollers although any other even number of rollers not a multiple of four could be used. By having an even number of rollers not a multiple of four, the dies of each pair of opposed dies are simultaneously actuated or moved inwardly for engagement with the metal stock, and, as the roller assembly and the rollers 52 rotate, the two pairs of opposed dies will be alternately moved toward the metal stock for a forming engagement therewith. Consequently, the metal stock is formed first in one plane by one pair of opposed dies and then in a second plane by a second pair of opposed dies, and since only one pair of opposed dies are forced into engagement with the metal stock at any particular moment, the metal stock can flow or bulge in one plane while it is being formed in the other plane as shown in the center and right views of FIG. 4. As a result, the metal stock does not have its cross-sectional area reduced by one blow of the dies, and therefore, the dynamic forces in the metal stock are insufficient to cause the metal to flash outwardly as shown in the center view of FIG. 3. Additionally, since only one pair of opposed dies engages the bar stock at any one moment, the dies 36, as shown in FIG. 4, can be made to have a die face 38 that is wider than the stock. A wide die face aids in precluding metal flashing and additionally ensures that the formed product will have sharp well-defined corners and not have the corner surface voids as shown in the right view of FIG. 3.

Since the die assemblies in this invention preferably do not revolve, the metal stock may be easily inserted and retained within the swaging machine, and would not be caused to rotate, and consequently, a fixed stock support could be used in conjunction with the swaging machine during the forming operation. Other advantages are that each die can have a die shape identical to or dilferent from the die shapes of the other dies, the tolerance in the dimensions of the dies need not be closely controlled because adjacent dies do not cooperate for simultaneously forming the metal stock, and adjustments in the die positions can be made by the die shims 4-2.

As will be apparent to persons skilled in the art, various modifications and adaptations of the structure above described will become readily apparent without departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the appended claim.

We claim:

A swaging machine comprising: a stationary support having a cylindrical outer surface and a central feed opening therein extending axially from a face thereof, said support further having four angularly spaced slots of rectangular cross section on said face extending radially from said feed opening, a thrust bearing and a pair of opposed side bearings removably fixed against radial and a removable shim interposed between the die and hammer for adjustably spacing the die and hammer; inner and outer annular rings removably fixed to the support face coaxially with the feed opening, said outer ring having an outer surface providing an axial continuation of the outer surface of the stationary support, said inner ring providing a removable cover allowing for ready replacement of the dies and shims, and power driven means rotatably mounted on said support coaxially with the central opening, said power driven means during rotation thereof having parts simultaneously actuating the opposed die assemblies of each pair toward the central opening and alternately actuating the two pairs of die assemblies whereby a metal workpiece placed in the feed opening is simultaneously engaged by diametrically opposed dies and is alternately engaged by pairs of opposed dies.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,969,317 Muller Aug. 7, 1934 2,353,008 Bondeson July 4, 1944 2,577,303 Bohlanver Dec. 4, 1951 2,669,137 Smith Feb. 16, 1954 3,002,406 Smith Oct. 3, 1961 3,064,508 Smith Nov. 20, 1962 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,232,267 France Oct. 6, 1960 

